Volunteering

June 05, 2013

It's become a Brazilian cliché: "Imagina na Copa!" Just imagine during the World Cup. It's a common complaint about many problems in Brazil, particularly in big cities, predicting an unhappy future for the country's mega-events. Overcrowded airports? Imagina na Copa! A spate of muggings in São Paulo? Imagina na Copa! A series of road signs with English misspellings in Rio? Imagina na Copa!

The saying was popularized further by a series of comedy videos that came out last year, and is the title of a new song by a popular sertanejo duo. But a new organization by the same name is seeking to turn the pessimistic expression on its head. I spoke to Mariana Campanatti, one of the group's founders, about what Imagina na Copa hopes to achieve.

Imagina na Copa was started by four Brazilians in their late 20s living in São Paulo. The two paulistas, mineira, and carioca were working at corporate jobs, and wanted to do something different, focusing on social good projects. "It's easy for people to complain," Campanatti explained. "Why don't we stop complaining and do something?" A lot of Brazilians of her generation also want to get involved in social good, said Campanatti, but sometimes things get in the way. "Between the intention and the action, there's a barrier. People have a lot of trouble seeing themselves as an agent of change." So Campanatti and the Imagina na Copa team decided to share stories about ordinary Brazilians working on social good projects to show how easy it can be to get involved, without necessarily needing a "noble" cause or a lot of money.

So each of the four quit their jobs and "threw themselves out into the world." In September 2012, they launched the project on Catarse, a crowdfunding site similar to Kickstarter, and raised R$25,000 to start the organization. They officially launched the site on January 3.

Imagina da Copa has three main areas. First, it launches a story each week describing an organization or social entrepreneur in Brazil, complete with a video, photos, and a blog post. "We want to show that any person have a role in social change, whether it's in their neighborhood or in society," said Campanatti. The organization looks at a variety causes and entrepreneurs so that others can relate to them.

Each week, Imagina na Copa has featured some truly incredible entrepreneurs. There's Alessandra Orofino of Meu Rio, a successful organization to get young people involved in public policy in Rio; Monique Evelle, who started the Salvador-based organization Desabafo Social at the age of 16, starting out by explaining human rights by sitting down with kids in public spaces; Augusto Leal, who started the Bibliocicleta, the traveling community Bike-Library in Bahia; and artist/activist Thiago Mundano of Pimp My Carroça in São Paulo, among others.

The second area of the organization is holding workshops. Often, people interested in social good don't know where to start and feel overwhelmed by the number of causes. Through the workshops, Imagina na Copa helps participants figure out which cause speaks to them--the kind that "gets them out of bed in the morning"--and then teaches them how to turn their interest into a project. They've held five of these workshops in cities across the country, some of which have already turned out social good projects.

The third area is launching a monthly "mission." Since Imagina na Copa began, it has launched campaigns to crowdsource signage and bus line information at bus stops in cities, to donate books in a pay-it-forward style, and to separate recyclables in green bags. "Everyone doing a small thing can generate a bigger change," Campanatti told me.

To get the word out, Imagina na Copa largely relies on social networks, especially Facebook. "We only exist because of social media," Campanatti said. It's also a way for the group to connect people interested in similar causes, and to reach Brazilians across the country. However, since the four co-founders travel a great deal to meet with social entrepreneurs and feature their stories, they decided to start a network of "captains," or local leaders. They recruited 40 young people (the average age is 22) from 20 cities, and trained them last month in São Paulo. Now, this group will be able to organize their own workshops, launch missions, and suggest stories.

Like other non-profits, Imagina na Copa is constantly seeking funding. The four co-founders don't have salaries and are living off personal savings. Aside from crowdfunding, they managed to get sponsorship from Instituto Asas. They also have partners who donate space and services, and Folha de São Paulo syndicates their weekly story. They're relaunching another crowdfunding drive starting June 12, which marks a year before the World Cup begins.

Despite their early successes, the co-founders plan to end the project in its current form when the World Cup begins. Putting a deadline on something helps motivate people, explained Campanatti, giving a more tangible sense for getting things done. When 2014 comes, the group plans to assess the project and publish a report, and figure out another way to continue their work. After leaving careers in places like ad agencies and banks, working on social good is "a path of no return," said Campanatti.

January 19, 2011

I decided to combine all of the ways you can donate to help Rio flood victims into a single post, especially because the Brazil Foundation announced today that they will be accepting online donations on behalf of two Rio organizations working to help victims, including VivaRio and Instituto da Criança. The death toll is currently at 744 and growing, and nearly 14,000 people are temporarily homeless.

January 14, 2010

Today I took $100 and split it evenly between Doctors Without Borders, CARE, the Red Cross, and Partners in Health to go towards rescue efforts in Haiti. It's a tiny, infinitesimal drop in the bucket, but I needed to do something. These are among the best organizations already working in Haiti, and I'm confident they'll use all of their donations wisely to put them to good use.

In the meantime, news reports today are unclear about Haitian casualties though estimates are in the tens of thousands, but the Brazilian government discovered that at least eleven Brazilians in the UN forces were killed, along with doctor, public health phenomenon, and social activist Zilda Arns. International casualties are also being reported from the UN headquarters.

While looking at some of the "how to help" pages, I came across a really cool organization called Architecture for Humanity, which is an extremely worthy cause for not just Haiti but the entire developing world. They are going to help with reconstruction efforts in Port-au-Prince, but not for temporary housing but rather with long-term, sturdy, permanent dwellings and buildings. They're also working on a really interesting project in Brazil (any architects out there? They need Portuguese speakers).

The thing that concerns me about the recovery and rescue efforts in Haiti is that because of the media spotlight and political pressure, an enormous amount of money and donations are going to flow in during the first few weeks, and then eventually dwindle as time goes on. This kind of catastrophe is a long term issue, and people are going to need food, water, shelter, clothing, and medical care for a considerable amount of time before the country can even start to think about rebuilding. The sad thing is, many people already needed some or all of those things before the earthquake. In any event, I really hope the world doesn't forget about Haiti once the initial media bonanza dies down. But judging from the past, it probably will.

November 03, 2009

I've kept in touch with the Ballet de Santa Teresa, where I was a volunteer while I lived in Rio. They send me updates and keep former volunteers in the loop, which is nice to be able to see how things are going. But last night I received really bad news.

The staff sent out a series of images to the listserv, and this was the first one:

See where the blue table is? There used to be a wall and a hill back there. Apparently, the wall completely fell apart and there was a landslide, bringing down so much debris that the school had to be closed.

Classes are temporarily being held at a local cultural center, but they're hoping to find a facility to move to until they figure out what will happen to the wrecked school. Since as usual, funds are extremely low, they are currently looking for help, so the kids still have somewhere to go.

If you know of a potential facility that the ballet could use (ideally in the vicinity of Santa Teresa or Centro), or advice about how they should proceed, please email balletdesantateresa at hotmail dot com. I'm sure they'd welcome donations, too. Now more than ever, they are in desperate need of help.

July 21, 2009

Naturally, I'd find out about this amazing school after moving back from Rio, but I'm glad that it's now at least on my radar. Thanks to Kacie for sending this to me!

UPDATE: The Miami Herald published a second story about the program today with a photo gallery of the kids here.

The Miami City Ballet has a scholarship program for children from the Escola de Dança Alice Arja, a professional dance school near Barra that trains a combination of paying students and favela kids. Alice Arja was trained in Brazil, the US, and Cuba, and has run the school since 1989, producing students who have gone on to join major companies in Brazil and Europe, and to study at professional schools around the world.

Ms. Arja sets aside half of the spots at the school for scholarship students, and has set up a partnership with the Miami City Ballet to send the most talented students to the US to take a summer intensive there. This year, 23 of her students were accepted into the program, a sizable fraction of the 215 total students in the entire summer intensive from all over the US and the world. One of the Brazilian students even won an apprenticeship with the Miami City Ballet, and will stay in the US to dance with them.

While the video feature from the Miami Herald drums away at how "needy" the children are (they live in cardboard boxes! without water! or electricity!), the bottom line is that this is an amazing and unique program that allows kids with no financial resources to have the opportunity of a lifetime to train in another country. [Check out the full story from the Miami Herald here, and watch the accompanying video below.]

The MH video wasn't spectacularly done, but what I really loved was finding videos of one of the Brazilian students dancing at the program this year (with hushed, awed commentary in Portuguese). See parts 2 & 3 of the piece here and here.

May 08, 2009

So I attempted my own charity experiment, which I hate to say I wouldn't recommend to others.

First, I held an online auction, largely targeted at gringos in Brazil, but I got a less than enthusiastic response, and in the end, nearly all of the bidders were Brazilian. I decided to accept only Brazil-based bids, and sent the books out by mail. [A huge thanks to Joao, Denise, and Mariel for participating and giving to a good cause!! I hope you enjoy your books!]

Since I had so many books left over, I decided to donate them, and brought them over to the library at the American School of Rio. There, I was met by the incredibly sweet librarian, who thanked me for the books and invited me to chat, asking me how I found out about the school and my life in Brazil. She asked me to sign the book with my story in it, and told me they would put a little sticker in each book saying I had donated it. It was one of the best parts of the whole experience, though I had hoped to have auctioned off more books to increase the monetary proceeds.

Next, I held a vote to see which NGO I should give the proceeds to. The results showed signs of irregularity, so I held a recount, which very few people voted in. After my two attempts at blog democracy failed, I made an authoritarian decision to give the proceeds to Refazer, since I had really liked the look of it after a reader suggested it, and since they help low-income children and teens with chronic illnesses, as well as their families. I also decided it would be nice to give back to an organization in the neighborhood I made my home for two years.

So I took the R$90 in donations and added R$25 of my own. I also put together some stuff from our apartment, since they also accept those types of donations. Eli and I went to the supermarket and bought a grocery cart full of non-perishable food, like rice, beans, cooking oil, canned food, spaghetti, baby formula, amongst other things (the supermarket didn't have a pre-made cesta basica). We loaded everything into our small cart and hauled the rest by hand twelve long blocks. Poor Eli dragged the cart, which was literally too heavy for me to hold up.

We finally got to the NGO, in a pretty house at the end of a quiet street. We walked in and I poked my head into the first door, asking where we could bring the stuff. The lady was very polite and told us to bring it to reception, next door. There, a man was standing around, and a woman was helping another couple. I asked the guy, who just stared at us, where we should put everything. "You can leave it right here." He took out two cards, and then excused himself. We unloaded some of the stuff. When he came back, Eli asked if they could also use the grocery cart, and he nodded. "Ok, you can have that too then." The guy silently handed us the cards, which were signed by someone from the NGO, and Eli and I wound up awkwardly thanking the guy, rather than vice versa. He didn't ask us about our interest in the NGO, or how we had found the place, or if we'd like to look around or to receive more information about the place. Nothing.

It was the least gratifying charity experience ever. It certainly taught me a lesson about the lack of interest in philanthropy.

April 16, 2009

I'm going to hold a charity auction on the blog to benefit an NGO based in Rio--and you, the reader, get to decide! Based on some of the responses I got last week and on my own research, I've narrowed it down to four NGOs. Please read each of the descriptions and take a look at the websites before you vote!

1. Vetor Pre-Vestibular Comunitario: Located in Leblon and founded in 2000, this organization seeks to "democratize access to higher education to help needy students get into college." The NGO offers classes in various subjects, extracurricular activities, excursions, psychological support, and a library to help prepare students for the competitive college entrance exams. In 2006, 50% of students passed their college entrance exam, and in 2009, 36 students passed the exam, accepted to some of the best schools in the city.

2. Refazer: Founded in 1995 and located in Botafogo, this organization helps support young patients of the local public hospital, IFF. They help children and teens recover and try to prevent future disease, as well as supporting their families, to give them a better quality of life. The NGO gives patients' families medications, food, medical equipment, wheelchairs, clothing, diapers, water filters, blankets, and other necessary items. They help rebuild patients' homes to accommodate the patient's health. They have panels and classes about nutrition, violence, drugs, domestic violence, and family planning. They provide fun activities for both the children and their parents at the center, and have a jewelery-making class that enables mothers to learn a craft and earn money.

3. Sao Martinho: This organization runs three homes for street children in Rio de Janeiro. The children live at the centers, where they have access to art and dance classes, movie nights, sports, reading, drawing, and toys. The children are enrolled in school and given psychological and moral support at the centers. They receive health care and are registered with the government in order to receive their ID and other paperwork. Staff members attempt to reintegrate the children with their families, when possible.

4. Centro de Estudos e Acao Excola: Founded in 1986 and located in Lapa, this organization seeks to empower and educate marginalized children and teens. They have various educational, cultural, and entrepreneurial projects for vulnerable youth, especially street children. They have a project to support pregnant teens, a radio station run by street kids, an HIV prevention campaign, an entrepreneurial program for young women, and an alternative housing program for youth aged 18-21.